Athmar Park

Graffiti Solutions

Nov 06, 2005

by Gregg Whelen

Are you as tired of graffiti in our neighborhood as I am? If so, then APNA and the city of Denver need your help. A pilot program to help cut down on graffiti was launched in June. The projects goal was to ask business owners and local residents to sign and return a release form authorizing the city to come in and clean up graffiti at no charge to them. Signing the release form allows the city to come clean YOUR property any time they are notified by yourself, or one of your neighbors.

The project included going door-to-door and speaking with business owners in the area, adding inserts in our newsletter for the NW Quadrant, a newsletter article, and putting flyers in local businesses. A letter was also sent to each residence in the pilot area. The response back was apathetic at best. Out of 343 addresses targeted, there were 37 releases already signed and only 21 new releases were returned. The city is planning to send a letter and the release form again, so people will have another chance to join in the partnership.

At the businesses where the flyers were left, there was also little response. At one of the locations where the flyers were left (Juanita?’s), the bin is still full, and -- according to Donna Borrego, Program Coordinator -- no one has called her to order more flyers from the other locations. These are local businesses that we all go to; it seems folks are not all that concerned.

This pilot program is designed to involve the community working with the city to improve the quality of life in our neighborhood. The idea is to educate citizens to work with the city in a partnership by reporting graffiti and using the paint bank. The City will provide you with paint and brushes to paint the dumpsters in your alley, with paint in 6 standard colors to paint over graffiti on your property, and graffiti wipes to remove graffiti from metal surfaces. Donna also mentioned going to the elementary schools in the area with graffiti kits, posters, and literature to educate the kids and maybe act as a prevention and educational tool. She is also planning to contact churches about putting announcements in church bulletins and to partner with local school leaders and principals to encourage more participation in the Adopt-a-Spot program. This allows groups or individuals to adopt a spot and promise to keep it clean of graffiti and trash. The Adopt-A-Spot list can be found at www.denvergov.org/kdb.

Some advice given by Donna includes; promptly reporting and/or removing graffiti (which discourages additional tagging from other taggers), adding motion detection lights, and installing cameras, (some are even battery operated, no hard wiring necessary). Working together with the City and your neighbors will help with the graffiti problem we see every day.

Now it is up to you, to do your duty and report it or clean it up. (Editor?’s Note: in addition to this major push to get more releases signed, the City also sent the graffiti abatement crews out twice a week to pro-actively remove graffiti in the pilot area from W. Alameda to W. Alaska and from S. Tejon to S. Navajo. APNA and Keep Denver Beautiful are brainstorming on next steps to try and reduce graffiti vandalism in our neighborhood.)